MANCHESTER — Burr and Burton Academy reported two cases of COVID-19 affecting the school community on Tuesday afternoon.
In an email to families, headmaster Mark Tashjian said a facilities staff member and a student tested positive, but both cases are asymptomatic and neither case "has much chance of creating infections within the BBA student community."
According to the Vermont Department of Health, significant contacts fall within a 48-hour window of the positive test, Tashjian said. "In these cases, no students are even close to this window," he added.
The facilities employee had been quarantining all last week and was informed of positive test results Tuesday morning, Tashjian said.
"This person was not at BBA all last week and last in school with students on December 10, I am happy to report that this person is asymptomatic," Tashjian said.
The student was last at BBA on Wednesday morning, Dec. 16, and traveled to another state for the holidays, Tashjian said.
"This person took a COVID test yesterday afternoon that came back positive. This person is fortunate to be asymptomatic," Tashjian said.
While Tashjian reassured families that the chance of spread from these cases is small, "I reiterate a request for vigilance during the holidays," he said.
"I recently reviewed a survey of sources for COVID infections, and indoor socializing and dining with others have a major impact," Tashjian said. "The vaccine is on its way, with some semblance of normalcy in our future once it’s distribution as widespread. In the meantime, I beg you to hunker down, tempting though it is to let our guard down and relax."